A Darker, More Vengeful Soul
by T-Rex Marine
Summary: Before the Fall of Beacon, people used to believe that victory was found in smaller, more honest souls. There was such a thing as happily ever afters and dashing heroes. One person learned the truth though. That the world doesn't need a hero. What it needs, is a monster. [Rated M for several instances of swearing, scenes of extreme gore and a pretty dark theme throughout].
**Neopolation.**

Neo had to use all her skill and focus to dodge the seemingly endless waves of Griffons and Nevermores that soared past her.

But at long last, she'd landed.

It had been weeks since the fall of Beacon.

Cinder had seemingly forgotten about the multi coloured assassin.

Neo gave a silent scoff.

Of course that heartless witch would leave her to die. What were Roman and her to Cinder any way but pawns, always destined to be discarded after their use was spent.

Neo stopped in her tracks at the thought of Roman.

Her poor, poor Roman.

The only person in this world that ever _truly_ cared about her and now he was gone. And she had nothing left.

It was all too much for the tiny girl, whose legs gave out, due to both exhaustion from walking for so long and the unbearable pain of her heart breaking into pieces.

She fell to the ground, hot tears trailing down her faces, as voiceless sobs wracked her petite form.

Then suddenly, she noticed the lack of light. As if it had suddenly gotten darker.

Neo turned to see a figure behind her, blocking the sunlight.

It was a girl, judging by the outline. She was adorned in all black attire, most noticeably a black cloak with the hood raised over her head.

But the key trait about this woman's appearance, was her face.

It was obscured by a black metal mask, its design implying that it was able to retract automatically. Its eyes were a glowing blood red, boring mercilessly into Neo's terrified soul.

This was not a person. This was some otherworldly revenant that had stepped out of the blackest void imaginable.

She kneeled down in front of Neo, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder.

Neo didn't know why, but looking into those horrible red eyes, she could tell, somehow she just knew, this girl was smiling.

 **Roman Torchwick.**

 _Fuck._

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!_

Roman can't think of _anything_ else.

Just a few weeks ago, he was swallowed by some oversized evil pigeon.

He only just managed to crawl out of the wreckage of the general's ship and passed out not even a few feet from where he started.

Then, he finds himself tied up, with Neo beside him, white eyes wide and full of terror, fretting over him.

Yet, she seemed as relieved to see him alive as he was to see her.

The thought of her being taken from him was too much for him.

"Hey Ice Cream. Long-time no see?"

Neo gives him a powerful hug, grateful that her only friend is alive.

"Shush, shush. It's okay Neo. We're both okay now", he tried desperately to calm her down.

Neo looks back up to him, eyes brimming with tears. She holds up her scroll, revealing the text.

[No. We're not okay.]

"What do you mean? And why am I tied up?"

Roman then looked at Neo's neck, which had a collar with a beeping red dot at its centre.

"Oh God no…" was all he could say.

Neo looked to the ground, scared.

"Neo, who…"

" **Ah good. You're awake",** called a synthesised voice. It sounded mechanical, high in pitch and yet soft and chilling.

It was a voice that promised any who heard it suffering and assured the listener that they would enjoy every moment of inflicting it upon them.

Roman was no idiot. He could put the pieces together.

This person had been the one who "rescued" Neo and himself, tied him up and had an explosive placed on Neo's neck.

Roman chose to remain calm. This was clearly not the kind of individual who took kindly to provocation.

"Please don't hurt her", he begged. There was no snark. No sass.

His only friend's life was on the line. He would rather die than watch Neo suffer.

" **What? Oh yes, the little decoration I gave to your dear assistant",** the dark robed girl chuckled.

" **Apologies, but I needed an insurance policy to make sure she didn't run away. As well as leverage to ensure your cooperation. I doubted gratitude for saving your life would be enough to get you to talk".**

"Saving my life?"

" **I found you, bleeding and half dead, about thirty feet from the wreckage. I brought you back here to heal".**

"And where is "here"?", he groaned, still in pain.

" **From Dust Till Dawn. Or what's left of it. This part of Vale is largely left alone, only the Grimm dare venture here. But do not worry. They have learned to avoid me".**

"I'm beginning to get the idea that avoiding you is the smart thing to do".

The woman chuckled, **"There's that Torchwick humour I've missed so much".**

She signalled for Neo to step away from Roman. The small assassin acquiesced to her command, and allowed the girl to come face to mask with Torchwick.

" **But seriously, let's get down to brass tacks shall we? I have a proposal to make. I want everything you know about Cinder, her assassins and the White Fang. I want their locations. Their history. Their strengths. Their weaknesses. Everything".**

" **And, should you cooperate, I will let you and your friend leave alive…"**

The dark figure gestured to four cases, which Neo hesitantly opened. To Roman and Neo's surprise, its contents were large amounts of Dust and Lien.

" **Well compensated for your assistance".**

Roman knew it was a no brainer.

The only reason he helped Cinder was to survive and it was very evident to him now that she no longer needed him.

Plus, the only shot he had at saving Neo was by helping this nut case, and it wasn't as if he was above betrayal. And then, there was the added bonus of being paid.

So Roman spilled his guts to her. Everything he knew about Cinder, Mercury, Emerald and their White Fang pets.

She never interrupted him. She just sat there, her finger on the detonator that would end Neo's life if she even caught a hint that he was lying, withholding information or forgotten anything important.

In all honesty, he'd never worked so hard to keep himself and Neo alive as he was right now, by coughing up every _single_ detail, regardless of how unimportant it may have seemed.

When at last he had finished, she untied Roman's bonds and handed him the key to release Neo's collar.

" **That's enough Lien and Dust to get you to Vacuo. You should be able to start up a new life there. Not that it needs saying, but stay out of Vale. I'm going to be busy here and its best if you stay out of my way".**

As she headed for the door, Roman couldn't help but ask.

"Why are you letting us live?"

The girl stopped in her tracks, not turning her head to look at the criminal duo.

" **Because I know what it feels like to have been used".**

And with that, she departed.

As soon as Neo was certain the terrifying mystery girl was gone, she ran into Roman's arms, silently crying in both joy and terror.

Roman returned the hug as tight as he could.

"It's okay now Neo. It's just us now. And I promise, that's the way it's going to stay. No more fucking partnerships with crazy people. Just me and you".

Neo sniffled, a hopeful smile looking to Roman's eyes.

He smiled back and let her climb atop his shoulders to carry her, as he took the cases that contained their future with him.

He honestly couldn't believe it.

He'd been given a second chance.

He wasn't going to waste it.

He was going to give Neo a life she deserved. One where she was happy, safe and free.

And he'd be there with her.

They were finally free of this nightmare.

 **Adam Tuarus.**

Another kick to the ribs and Adam coughed up even more blood. His black trench coat was covered in it, as well as that of his fellow White Fang members.

Even, his faithful Lieutenant.

He was beaten. Broken.

His body all but shattered from the insanely inhuman beating he'd received.

He couldn't move, couldn't think straight and was pretty much dead by this point.

All because of her.

" **Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say I still have seven ribs left to break".**

He snarled, as she descend to face him.

" **Oh but pain won't break you, no. No, you're like me. Pain is all you know. Pain is all you understand. You see, me and you are more alike than you think. Pain, moulded us both into who we are today and in return, we both repay pain by inflicting it on those we hate".**

Adam stared at her, eyes burning with so much fury, it was a wonder his stare alone didn't burn a hole in her.

"You know _nothing_ about _true hatred"._

The girl picked up Adam's own sword, Wilt, raised it up high and brought it down swiftly, severing his right arm.

The Faunus screamed in pan.

" **I'll** _ **show**_ **you, what "true hatred", looks like",** she growled, dragging him to see the horrors of her handiwork.

Adam could not help but shed a tear at the sheer depravity of what this monster had done.

Then, she laughed. It was cold and laced with sadism.

" **Do not worry Adam. You will see your friends soon".**

Adam Taurus didn't say a word as he closed his eyes.

With one final swipe, Adam's head was cleaved off of his body. Blood spewing from his torso. The black robed girl allowed it to drench her, whilst lowering herself to pick up the head and moved on from the body.

For she was not done. She'd barely started.

 **Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai.**

Mercury and Emerald had been dispatched by Cinder to investigate why Adam wasn't responding to her calls.

When they reached the White Fang base, they were shocked to find out why.

Row upon rows of wooden stakes had been planted in the ground, with the word "Traitor", "Murderer" or "Coward" carved into it. At the top of each stake, was the head of a White Fang member.

The rows didn't seem to end.

And at the very front of the rows, was Adam Taurus' head, with the word "Monster" scratched underneath.

While the two were distracted by the sheer scale of brutality, they were ambushed by the girl in black robes.

They attempted to defend themselves, but she countered their every move, dodged every hit and anticipated their every strategy.

Mercury launched himself to kick his opponent, but she merely tossed two small circular disks at his legs, which latched themselves onto him and emitted an electromagnetic pulse, rendering them and their owner immobile.

"Gah! Emerald, help me!"

Frightened for her life, Emerald ran for the forest, going as fast as she could.

But it was pointless, as she soon felt a painful bite to her left leg. She looked down to see to her dismay, that she'd been caught in some sort of snare that had shut itself tight around her leg.

She could hear her purser getting closer.

She decided to buy herself some time, by using her illusion to make it look as if she'd been ensnared in another of the many snares that had been set up in the forest.

It seemed to have worked, as the girl was now walking up towards a trap that hadn't even been triggered.

Emerald desperately tried to open the trap and maybe try her luck at hiding, as running was no longer an option.

" **Do you know, why I wear a mask?"**

Emerald looked to her horror, to see a dark robed figure standing in front of her, arms folded in amusement.

" **It allows several forms of visual displays, including one that filters Semblance induced imagery. Which means, I always see people for what they really are".**

Emerald noticed that the girl had dragged a paralysed and angry Mercury with her.

The figure reached into Emerald's pocket to retrieve her Scroll, searching through the numbers.

" **You know, when he told me about you two, Roman I mean, he was a real treat to talk with, honestly, I expected more. An assassin, who is only** _ **half the man**_ **his father was, and thinks murdering librarians and children makes him a warrior of renown".**

"F-fuck you…" he managed to sputter.

She placed her boot on top of Mercury's throat, listening to him gasp for air.

" **Language please. And you my dear. The poor, desperate orphan thief, who meets a beautiful and eccentric woman who offers her food and companionship and ends up falling head over heels for her, even if she treats you like the mutt you are".**

She gave a shrill, metallic laugh that grated on Emerald's nerves.

" **You're nearly as foolish as I once was".**

Emerald was crying out of fear and hatred of this girl.

"You…you won't make me betray Cinder. You hear me!? I won't tell you a damned thing!"

Again, the girl chuckled, this time even more malice present in her laugh.

She picked up Emerald's weapons, triggering the blades to emerge.

" **They say illusionists, channel their Semblance through their eyes. That they have to look directly at what they want to influence. Which means, you saw** _ **everything,**_ **that day. Didn't you? You saw, what you did?"**

She grabbed at Emerald's hair, pulling it hard, forcing her to look into her blood red optics.

She pressed, "Record" on the scroll.

" **You see Emerald, I don't want you to talk",** she condescended as she moved Emerald's own weapons closer to her eyes.

"N-no…please don't!"

" **I want you to** _ **scream".**_

Emerald shrieked as her sight was robbed from her. Her eyes punctured and bleeding profusely.

All the while, her masked tormentor was still recording.

By the time she'd finished with Mercury and Emerald, the recording was 30 minutes, 28 seconds long.

She sent the recording to Cinder and made her way to Beacon Academy's ruins.

At last, she would finally get a true taste of revenge.

 **Cinder Fall.**

Cinder just finished listening to the grizzly last sounds of her former acolytes, when she saw the dark hooded girl.

Cinder would not deny it. She knew this day was coming. And she was afraid.

"I should have known you would return. After you changed. Though I must admit, I did not expect you capable of…this".

" **You give yourself too little credit. You made me possible. And now, I have come to show you my thanks".**

Cinder unleashed a wave of fire, her opponent only just dodging it.

They traded blows, Cinder's experience and raw power giving her the edge at first, but as it went on, it became clear, no matter how many times she hit this girl, she just took it in her stride. As if it had no effect on her.

As if nothing in this world could hurt her.

Cinder launched volley, after volley of arrows, but they were either dodged or caught and swiftly snapped in half.

So she tried using her scimitars, trying to lay a meaningful blow on the girl as she flipped and leaped to, going for hit and run attacks that were beginning to take their toll.

Then she got a lucky break, as she managed to stab the girl right in the chest.

She fell to her knees, as Cinder laughed, walking over towards her.

"It's a shame really. Despite your opposition to me, you could have been useful. I haven't met anyone this worthy of a fight since the late miss Nikos tried to play the hero".

She reached out her palms to reveal a Grimm like insect.

"But it is time for Remnant to learn, that _heroes_ , only exist in fairy tales".

The insect latched onto the mask, beginning the draining of the girl's very soul.

But Cinder reacted violently, as if someone had just sent fifty thousand volts into her body.

There was no power. No Aura. No Semblance.

This girl. This _thing._

She was without a soul.

She rose up, pulling Cinder's blade from her chest and tossing it aside, as if she was never even stabbed.

" **I don't believe in heroes. Or happy endings. Or the greater good in people. I'm not naive anymore. I believe in one thing and one thing only. This world, is built and run by killers. And the strongest of them gets to decide how the story ends".**

Cinder was still panting from the sensation of feeling absolute emptiness. The total lack of anything resembling life.

"How…could you do this to yourself? Why would anyone do this to themselves!?"

" **You did this to me. I merely embraced it",** she replied, monotoned.

"You…you have no soul…"

The robed warrior knelt and retrieved a gray sword, with green markings, a bronze hilt and a severed string at the end, from her back.

" **That is why I have no fear. That is why the Grimm, do not see me. That is why I cannot be beaten, betrayed or stopped. Because I have nothing left to** _ **fear**_ **".**

She grabbed Cinder's throat and proceeded to crave her heart from her chest, looking into her yellow eyes, brimming with terror and hate.

As the False Maiden died, her stolen powers were meant to go into the last person she thought of.

But being as the last thing she could think of at all was this girl, void of a soul, the Maiden's power, the minute it found its new host, dissipated and faded away. Much like the hope it was meant to bring to the world.

The girl stood triumphant, Cinder's heart still in her hand, as she held it before the Grimm and squeezed it tightly until it burst, spewing blood everywhere.

" **That was for you my love. All of this is for you".**

 **The End of the Beginning of a Dark Legend.**

She was just about ready to leave Vale and move onwards to Haven.

There, she would find the true master mind behind this.

The architect of her suffering.

And then she heard _him._

Oh how she hated his wretched voice and everything he said.

"Ruby!"

There was silence.

Then, the robed figure turned to see Qrow Branwen, shocked and tired from what must have been a frantic sprint to get here.

She pressed a single finger to a hidden button on the left side of her mask, her faceplate raising to reveal a girl with eyes of pure silver, not a white spot to be found.

"Qrow Branwen. Too late to save the day, but just in time to watch your failure ruin someone else's life. Same as usual".

Qrow swallowed the lump in his throat, his heart breaking at what he was seeing and hearing.

"Ruby", he begged. "Please listen to me. This has to stop. This isn't you…"

"Ruby Rose is dead, Branwen. She died when she saw the love of her life _butchered_ before her very eyes. An atrocity, _you_ could've stopped".

"Ruby that's not fair! If I could have…"

Ruby's face turned into an expression of rage, as she unfolded a now black Crescent Rose, pointing the barrel of the gun at Qrow. For once in his life, Qrow chose not to talk.

"Roman told me everything. How you _saw_ Emerald, Cinder and Mercury a year ago and did nothing when they were hiding in our school plain as day. You let those animals frame your own niece for a crime she never committed and then dared lecture her on responsibility!"

She scoffed, disgusted. "I don't know what I hate about you more. Your misplaced sense of righteousness and wisdom. Or the fact that I used to aspire to be like you".

Ruby smiled.

It wasn't like the ones she used to make.

The smiles of the thoughts of freshly baked cookies or seeing Zwei chase his tail or seeing her team do something funny.

This was a smile that dreamt of all the misery and pain she would bring to those she believed had wronged her.

"I bet you never heard the rest of the stories about Silver Eyed warriors. _Why_ the Grimm ran away from us. But my mother figured it out. Didn't she?"

Qrow looked away from her, but answered all the same. "Yes. She did".

"That our Silver Eyes have the ability to make us unkillable. That it burns away all fear, all mortality. That it is only _triggered_ by an emotional response, but truly _perfected_ by rejecting our very soul for its power".

Ruby pointed to her stab wound to reinforce her point.

"But she never used it. Because she was afraid of losing us if she did. But not me. I'm not afraid of anything".

"And is that what you want?" Qrow demanded. "To be feared by all and opposed by none? Don't you know who you sound like?"

"I'm the protector these people need. I'm willing to do what must be done". She cackled. "Ozpin. That cowardly old fool thought victory was found in a "Smaller, more honest soul". But it isn't. There aren't any heroes in this world because heroes don't win. The people of Remnant don't need another hero. They need me".

"They need a monster".

Qrow took a risk and stepped forward. "And you _need_ your family. What do you think this is doing to them? Your father is distraught and Yang is…"

"I'm doing this for them! For dad, for Yang, Blake, Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Ren, everyone who's lives where ruined because of your fucking apathy!"

"For Penny and Pyrrha. Two beautiful people taken from this world, because a bunch of old fools sat in a tower instead of protecting the world".

"And for me! Because I fucking deserve it! I deserve revenge! And I will have it, once I have taken Salem's head and put it on a spike…."

She turned her back to her former uncle.

"Right next to your friend Ozpin"

Qrow truly didn't want to believe what he was hearing. "Don't do this Ruby. Don't make me fight you".

"You only live because Yang is deluded enough to love you. I would not cause her more pain than she is already in, even if it would satisfy me to kill you right now".

Qrow was just barely fighting back tears. "Ruby please don't say that. I love you".

Ruby was still for a long time.

Qrow took a few tentative steps towards her.

Then she spun round and stabbed him in the gut with Penny's sword, drinking in his surprise at his niece's deception.

Looking him dead in the eyes, she hissed coldly, "You mean _nothing_ to me old man. I _hate_ you", she sharply retracted the blade, causing Qrow to double back, clutching his wound.

"Like I said, I won't kill you this time. But this is your first and only warning. Stay out of my way, or suffer. And tell Goodwitch and Ironwood, I'm coming for them too. After I've hunted Salem and Ozpin and dragged their corpses across the Four Kingdoms, I will track down the other Maidens and destroy their powers, preventing anything like what happened at Beacon from happening again".

"I _will_ bring peace to this world. Even if I have to _beat_ it into it".

She turned to the world beyond, preparing to depart.

A final desperate word escaped Qrow's pained voice, "Ruby…"

"Ruby is gone, old man…"

Her black faceplate descending.

" **Call me, Reaper".**

She leapt off of Beacon tower, landing perfectly and running off into the ruined city of Vale.

Where she is now?

No one knows.

All that is known is this.

The forces conspiring against the Kingdoms of the world truly wished fairy tale heroes were real.

Because the monster they had created was so much worse.

 **So…yeah. I wanted to try my hand at something darker for a change. Don't know how well this went, but I would appreciate some feedback.**

 **Personally, I had a LOT of fun writing this one. It's so fun to be the villain some days.**

 **Until next time, this is T-rex Marine saluting (with his tiny two fingered hand) you readers and wish you an awesome time and look forward to hearing from you again.**


End file.
